you are waking up to what is expected be the busiest day of the year for the postal service. major concerns about the water coming out of your tap. the chemical brought to life by erin brockovich. could that chemical be detected here in home in our area. a home destroyed by an

explosion. the latest from investigators. we look down at the u.s. capitol dome this morning. camera shaking a little bit because it is a little breezy out there and a little cold as well. good morning. i'm steve chenevey. >> i'm sarah simmons in for gurvir dhindsa. a queue quick delays to pass along as well. stafford county and spotsylvania county, virginia, they are both overing two hours late today. both on a two-hour delay this morning. let's get a check of our weather. shouldn't be too bad out there. >> i think they're concerned about ice on the roads in some of those locations. here in the d.c. area, we are in pretty good shape. there are some frozen patches out there to be sure but no new precipitation for us today. very windy conditions will develop. you want to be aware of that. let's take a look at the current temperatures. show you where we are right now. it is 25 degrees in the

nation's capital. 17-degree at dulles airport. patuxent naval air station, 27. winchester is at 27 degrees. here is a look at the satellite- radar composite for the region. our skies are mostly clear this morning. mostly clear. and i think that is the way it will be for a good part of the day. it is cloudy now in northern around western portions of maryland and in the panhandle, much of the panhandle of west virginia. your day planner for today, another cold one. our average high for today who be 46 degrees. we'll be nowhere near that. look for a high once again in the low 30s. winds could gust up to 0 miles per hour so it will be blustery today. more details on all of that coming up in just a little bit. >> that is the thing. you look at the temperatures and they are cold. the wind will cut right through. significant wind chills all day. >> let's check in with julie and get a look at traffic. >> let's say good morning to the crew in sky fox. i'm sure they are all bundled up up there flying above the bw parkway as you work your way in from 197 to the beltway. the lanes are open.

no incidents reported out of laurel as you continued southbound working your way out to the capital beltway. right side of the road starting to slow just briefly south of 197 south towards powder mill. lane are open on the northbound stretch head up to bwi and 695. we'll take it inside. the lanes are open working outer loop between colesville road and your exit for 270. slow on the top side approaching and passing 109. northbound i-95 here at the prince william parkway, volume starting to slow just a bit as you work your way northbound towards the occoquan. you will find 66 here at nutley street at speed leaving vienna towards the beltway. that's a check of your fox 5 on-time traffic. new this morning, south korea fired live artillery in a drill overnight but there has been no reaction from the north so far. south koreans were ordered to bomb shelters yesterday and the united nations last night held

an emergency session. but they failed to agree on how to end the crisis. bill richardson got the north to agree on letting nuclear inspectors back into the country. an explosion has sparked a massive house fire in chantilly, virginia under investigation this morning. firefighters got a call about a natural gas smell and were on their way to a home on lees corner road when the blast happened. the home was destroyed. no one was hurt. some neighbors had to be evacuated and crews from washington gas are looking to see whether the explosion damaged any underground gas lines. in the district, there was a deadery carbon monoxide leak and one man died and two women were sick. one woman made it out on her own. rescuers found another woman upstairs and a man downstairs. both women are in the hospital. fire officials believe a malfunctioning furnace is to blame for the leak. there were no carbon monoxide detectors in the home. police in las vegas are

searching if a former redskins cheerleader who has gone missing. 31-year-old debbery flores narvayes was last seen leaving her home in vegas eight days ago. the car was found on nurse with the maryland plates removed. she moved to vegas two years ago to pursue a dancing career. a neighborhood in northeast d.c. is now demanding more from police after a beloved store owner was gunned down over the weekend. 46-year-old rajesh patel of bowie was shot and killed in the 3600 block of 1th street. he owned the newton food mart. -- in the 3600 block of 12th street. another big story we are following, water kens across the united states. a study commissioned by the environmental working group connected chromium six in tap

water in 89% of the 5 cities sampled. this is the same chemical brought to life and on the big screen by erin brockovich. 5 were at levels above the safe maximum. at least 74 million americans in 42 states drink chromium polluted tap water. the group recommends the epa move quickly to establish a legal limit and to require public water suppliers to test for it. if you have any holiday packages to ship, there is still some time but you can expect a crowd these days. christmas crunch is on. the people filed into a post office in friendsship heights, one of the few offices open on sunday. the post office predicts today will be the busiest day of the year. cards have to be postmarked by today and packages by tomorrow

to arrive on the 25th. good-bye gilbert. perhaps the most notorious woodward traded. hear from the team and the head coach when fox 5 morning news returns. 

making headlines today, you know it has been a crazy last few days for sports fans in the d.c. region. the redskins look to end a three-game skid against the cowboys with rex grossman taking over for donovan mcnabb at quarterback. they quickly dug themself into a hole and railedied back from a 20-point deficit to tie it at 30 behind grossman's four touchdown passes. in the end, his three turnovers proved to be very costly. the cowboys won it 33-30. there are multiple reports that maryland football coach rail. friedgen will accept a buyout and not return next season. he reportedly learned of kevin anderson's intentions to buy

him out earlier this week. friedgen is scheduled to make $2 million next season. maryland is playing east carolina december 29th at rfk. let's not forget about the big basketball trade. the wizards dealt gilbert arenas to orlando. he went to three straight all- star games representing the wizards but then knee injuries and a felony gun charge kept him off the court for most of the last few seasons. >> i think he is excited about the opportunity. he thanked us for everything here. we did spend seven years of our lives together. >> an opportunity for him to get to the conference finals and championships. while lewis will suit up for the wizards tonight at verizon center at charlotte.

much more sports talk this hour. stay tuned for monday morning quarterback with dave ross. straight ahead after the break, lawmaker working overtime. cog was suppose vrgs congress was supposed to -- congress was supposed to be on holiday vacation by now but capitol hill is still bustling. we'll take a look at the pending legislation when fox 5 morning news returns. [ female announcer ] why settle for plain bread

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welcome back. we want to check in with tony perkins again two a very chilly, breezy day out there. >> today, it will be colder than yesterday was. i think it is all relative. for many folks, yesterday felt okay. it was 38 degrees. so it was warmer than it's been. today, we drop off. i think you could shave a good five, six degrees off that for your high for today. let's look at yesterday's high temperatures. we'll start with that, the relatively warmth. all of these temperatures we

are talking about are still below normal. yesterday was below normal. today, of course, will be below normal. our average high is 46 degrees for this time of year. yesterday, we got up to 38 degrees. bwi marshall got up to 37 degrees. our current temperatures, we bounced up a little bit. we are at 25 degrees last four. now, we are at 28 degrees here. we are going in the right direction. 25 in gaithersburg. manassas is at 18 degrees. winchester at 28 degrees. factor in the winds which are only blowing at seven miles per hour right now, they are not gusting, gives us wind chills prime airily in the teens. 17 in gaithersburg. 19 in annapolis. 16 at dulles airport. feel like 21 at both washington and in baltimore. we've got mostly clear skies. now, we've been watching these clouds move in. and reagan national actually right now is reporting mostly

cloudy skies. can you see the clouds streaming in right now so some clouds during the course of the morning but we do expect to see plenty of sunshine throughout the day today. the forecast for today looks like this. mostly sunny skies, some morning clouds filtering in as we speak. windy at times so the wind chills will be significant. the high temperature 32 degrees. that is in town, well below normal. your five-day forecast looks like this. it is interesting. tomorrow being a little clipper system comes through here and could bring some snow flurries. that is about it. temperatures, quote, unquote, warm up again a little bit for the middle part andened part of the week as our highs will be back into the upper 30s. friday, christmas eve, there is a chance of some snow christmas eve night into christmas morning. that would be nice. that is a look at what is happening with the weather. now, let's find out what is happening with the traffic.

>> so far, so good on the roads. lanes are open traveling in on 95 and 295 coming in out of laurel. 270 does slow approaching and passing 109. no incidents to report as you travel down the southbound spur along the left side of your screen and continue past democracy boulevard. no trouble spots to report as you head to the right to the inner loop. lane are open on 395 northbound leaving duke street headed up to the 14th street bridge. traffic running smoothly in both the main line and the hov lane. incident-free the commute on the beltway between annandale and merrifield. that's a check of your fox 5 on-time traffic. >> thank you. congress was supposed to object christmas vacation by now but congress is still working on capitol hill hoping to cross more items off their to-do list before the break. the start treaty with russia

and a health care measure for nerve workers are among those unfinished items. -- for 9-11 workers are among those unfinished items. a group of 9-11 workers plans to gather outside the white house to urge president obama to get involve in the fight to back the bill. >> backers say they are optimistic the senate will aprofit measure before the lame duck session ends. for the second time in the last couple of weeks, the senate passed a sweeping food safety bill that gives the government new powers to recall contaminated foods. the first time it passed, they added tax provisions. they redid it yesterday and it is not headed to the house. the nuclear weapons treaty with russia remains questionable. mitch mccon emsays em-- mcmcconnell says he -- mimp mcconnell says he will vote-- mitch mcconnell says he will

vote against the treaty. over the weekend, the senate passed a historic reteal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military. >> the last weekend for holiday shopping now behind us. so how are things shaping up for retailers? >> the trustee in charge of paying back bernie mad off's victims is halfway there. we'll have more on that when we head to new york for today's business beat. stay with us. 

how is the season shaping up for retailers? and we'll update the efforts to pay back the victim of bernie madoff's ponzi scheme. lauren simonetti joins us from new york this morning. good morning. >> good morning, steve. happy monday. >> monday is monday. let's talk about the markets and see how that he may respond

this week. shortened trading week this week. >> the markets are closed on friday for christmas eve. volume is expected to be railroad light. with light volume comes volatility. we might see some stocks move more than usual because of the light volume this week. we have no economic data today. no economic data tomorrow and nothing on friday. so we really have very little for traders to respond to this week. we are in the home stretch you can say. >> all those analysts can get their last-minute holiday shopping done. i got almost all of mine done online. got it done early. has the response been good for holiday shopping so far? >> yeah, and online shopping especially. it is up by 13.5% last year. we were talking about free shipping friday last week. that day alone brought in $942 million. so overall holiday shopping is strong both at the store and online. clothing sales are up nearly 10% this year. furniture, luxuries sales, jewelry sales all up by about

3% this year. so it is definitely a good year for holiday shopping. we've been talking about it every day. but one of the things to note is that, yes, shoppers are shopping for discounts and they are getting lots of things on sale but they are paying full full price for the hot items. >> bernie madoff is talking about big money. this bush has been on to try to recover as much money for victim as possible. it likes we are taking another step in that direction. >> the trustee recovering money for the 16,000 victims is doing a really good job. he is being very aggressive and so far, he has recovered $10 billion so there is another $10 billion to go because the amount of money estimated to have been lost is $20 billion.

he auctioned off most of bernie madoff's properties, his belongings. that brought in $2.5 billion. we learned of the large of the settlement in u.s. history of $7.2 bill wrong from madoff's big of the beneficiary. he died last year. he had a heart tax while he was swimming but his widow has agreed to fork o ver $7.2 billion. so right now, madoff appear victims -- mad off's victims are halfway there. on the fox business network, we'll be talking about how the tax cut deal will impact you and your pocketbook and the euro storm.com ceo talking about this holiday shopping season. >> thank you. we talked about holiday shopping and now you need to make sure the gifts actually get to the people on your holiday list. audrey barnes is on our top story this morning. good morn, audrey. >> the clock is ticking. if you still have christmas cards and packages to mail, i'm

live at the brentwood post office with that story, coming up. 

snow and freezing temperatures continue to cause problems in europe for travelers. hundreds of passenger is have been stranded after man flights were canceled or delayed over the weekend. in paris, a lady gaga concert was canceled because trucks carrying equipment for the show couldn't get to the stadium. australia experiencing some wacky weather. this is what they call summer snow. the white stuff fell in the southeast part of the country. in western australia, floods destroyed crops and livestock. a number of people needed to be rescued from the fast-moving water. >> deadly wacky weather. you wonder what is going on.

>> i'll tell you what is going o something very cool. late tonight, early tomorrow morning is a lunar eclipse. it is a lunar eclipse that is occurring on the winter solstice. that is quite rare. and you will be able to see it. tonight being we expect it to be partly cloudy so hopefully there will be fewer clouds during the peak intensity of the eclipse but tonight, about 1:00 in the morning starts -- begins about 1:33 tonight, tuesday morning and lasts until 5:01 tuesday morning. it is overnight. you should be able to see it along the east coast. you will be able to see it along the east coast as long as it is not cloudy. the moon high up in the sky so more people can view it than normal. perfect opportunity to see it if you want to see it. >> set your alarm. >> should be opportunity. our current conditions being reported across the region, it is a cold start to date as you

would expect. currently at reagan national, 28 degrees. reagan national is reporting plenty of clouds. relative humidity has dropped. it is 54%. your winds are light at seven miles per hour but that is giving us a wind chill in the teens for much of the area. low 0s in town. can you see the clouds as they begin to move in. -- low 20s in town. we'll see a good amount of sunshine during the course of the day today. here is your day planner for today. good a sun, still cold. windy, blustery, highs only in the low 30s and winds could gust up to 30 miles per hour. if you've been paying attention this morning, you know, as we do the five-day forecast, we've been mentioning the chance of snow christmas eve into christmas day. today's act weather guys question in about 15 minutes is about white christmases in our area. we'll talk about that in just a few minutes. >> i know we had one last year, didn't we? >> we had snow on the ground. >> and plenty of it. >> lots it was. >> thank you. let's check in with julie and get a look at what is happening out there.

>> let's start off with the chopper doing that you are thing up in sky fox this morning. they are hovering above the beltway out near 66. all lane are open, no problems to report as you continue eastbound working your way past the incident are changes there at 234. traffic volume still moving at speed as you continue in towards centreville. no incidents to report right now. left side of your screen looks pretty good inbound on 66 merging onto northbound 495 and continuing out towards tysons corner. we'll take it back inside and update the ride elsewhere. for those traveling in the district, accident activity eyeing up the right side of rooted. it just occurred. if you are leaving the deets line head up to the accident scene, it is only about a five- minute trip at this time. -- if you are heaving the d.c. line headed up to the accident scene, it is only about a five-

minute trip at this time. lanes are open southbound on 270 out of hyattstown. still some time to get the last-minute packageses in the mail. not at lot though. be prepared for packed post offices. >> audrey barnes joins us live now at the brentwood post office with more. >> reporter: good morning. i don't know about you two but a lot of people spent this weekend getting their cards and packages ready to mail. you know as soon as the sun comes up,en will head to the post office to get that in the mail so you can expect a very busy day at the postal offices near you. joining us live the u.s. postal seven sis spokesperson. how busy does the postal service expect to be today. >> very busy. this is our busiest mailing day. we urge everyone to come out and get their packages and card mailed today. pieces of mail. ting 800

>> between thanksgiving and december 25th, we are expecting upwards of 8 billion pieces of mail. >> so tell me about the deadlines inform i have christmas cards that are not in the mail yet, can i get them there if i get them in the mail today. >> please. all the priority packages mailed no later than december # 1st. and for all the last-minute shoppers and last-minute senders, we urge our express mail. we guarantee delivery on christmas day. >> i would imagine that, if this is the busiest shipping day of the year, it competes with irs tax day? >> yes, this is bigger but i guess you could say it competes with that. >> reporter: now, usually around the tax deadline, you have extra people out there.

did you guys have to call in reenforcements today. >> each year, we do call in extra team to process it is mall. >> you have a little treat for folks who come out to the brentwood post office. >> we have santa and mrs. clause who is going to visit the brentwood post office this morning at 10:00. >> so other incentives to come out. >> absolutely. we urge you guys to please come and we welcome you. so you guys have happy holidays. >> thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> reporter: so like you heard sharon just say, the clock is sticking. get the cards in the mail today and your packages no later than tomorrow if you want them to get there by christmas. >> the pressure is on. everybody has to get it out there. all right. now to our other top stories. an explosion that sparked a massive house fire in shan stilly, virginia under investigation this morning. firefighters got a call about a natural gas smell and were on their way to a home on lise

corner road when the blast happened. the home was destroyed. no neighbors were hurt. crews are looking to see whether the explosion damaged any underground gas lines. carbon monoxide took over a hem in northwest. one woman made it out on her own but rescuers found a woman upstairs and a man downstairs. both women are in the hospital. fire officials say there was no carbon monoxide detector inside the home. they believe a malfunctioning furnace is to blame for the lake. an american tourist found dead in israel is from our area. kristin lukin is originally from northern virginia. her body was found with stab wounds on saturday.

a friend who was with her says two arab men attacked her and she survived the attack by playing dead. a health alert about the tap watter in many cities across the country. chromium six was discovered in tap water in 89% of 35 cities sampled. this is the same chemical brought to life by erin brockovich. twenty-five of the cities were at levels above the safe maximum. at least 74 million americans in 4 # states drink chromium polluted tap water. -- in 42 states drink chromium putted tap water. kroger company recalling a number of dog and cat food items because they contain a aflatoxin that could be harmful to animals. it covers items sold in 19

states including virginia. we put the entire list online. just click on web links. now for a close call for the redskins in dallas but despite a gallant effort, they couldn't pull off a win against the rival cowboys. >> with rex grossman in, what can we expect for the team going forward? dave ross will join us for monday morning quarterback straight after the break. >> hi. this is haven't he is afrom hawaii. we would like to say a merry vim and happy new year to my in laws pierre and louise jolie of springfield, virginia. a -- a morey christmas and happen -- a merry christmas and a happy new year. tr rtiontui

back now with an update on theburg uppedy and gold. a tough one for the redskins in

dallas. they overcame a 20-point deficit to tie it. it was a cowboys win. 33-30 is the final. dave ross joins us for monday morning quarterback. it is all rex grossman. >> you want to know juan we are spot question, which is can this quarterback lead your team one day to a super bowl championship? not to the playoffs, not 8-8. can the water back you have under center for 16 weeks, can he lead you tie championship? if the answer is yes, you have the right guy. if you think it is yes, you have the right guy. if you say i'm not sure, get rid of him, you don't have the right guy. this is what rex grossman had to say once it was name that he would be the starter. this was his answer to all the criticism about his playing quarterback in d.c.

>> i'm human. how could you not be motivated to show everybody who is mocking this or talk on the radio or tv thinking they're smart. i am totally motivated to go out and prove not only to them and myself that i'm he a bonafide starter in this league and can lead this team to a championship one day. >> that is what rex grossman believes. whether you do or not, whether mike shanahan does or the fans or dan snyder. that is all beside the point. rick grossman believes he can lead this team to the super bowl. he knows what we say. he doesn't say i don't listen to you guys. he knows the criticism he gets. that is what he gets. he goes out on sunday and that is the performance he turns in. three turnovers, four touchdowns. an uneven day but he did throw for 322 yards, 25 of 4 # and he did lead this team back from a

30-14 deficit to tie it up at 30 in the forty quarter. we asked rex after the game to evaluate his performance. >> i felt like i played as well as i could have. i tried as hard as i could. it is up to you guys to decide all those things. but i can never be fully happy without a victory but, you know, i'm glad we got a chance to move the ball and put up some points. >> they did. that is a season high for the redskins. >> did mike shanahan see enough in one game to determine whether or not they will sign the guy. rex grossman is a free act quarterback after this season is over. is this going to be the quarterback next year? two more games to still prove his point and we'll find out whether he is good enough. this is the uneven part. this is in the first quarter. getting the interception there. that could be miscommunication from mike sellers.

he has not practiced with the first time until this week. we do know this. donovan mcnabb is not going to be back next year. >> i talked to a number of nfl coaches who evaluate and rate quarterbacks. physical skills, they will tell you number two on the list. leadership qualities number one on the list. does he have that leadership quality? we don't know the answer to that question yet. we do know donovan mcnabb can lead. that is one thing he can do. we don't know if rex grossman can do that. he did lead the bears to the super bowl in 2006. better leader, probably donovan mcnabb. better player, probably rex grossman. >> does john beck get a shot here? >> he is the number two quarterback for the next two weeks. donovan mcnabb goes down to number thee. >> tony perkins isn't happy about this. >> i reserve comment.

>> you're reserving comment today. >> tony has his -- >> yeah. yeah. >> okay. let's take a look at the weather right now. >> chilly out there. i think your weather headlines -- we'll start with the weather headlines. big headline for today is it will be breezy and cold. breezy, that is your big one right there. windy conditions across the region today. winds could gust up to 30 miles per hour. as i told but 15, 20 minutes ago, there is a lunar eclipse tonight. if you want to see it, get up about 1:00 in the morning and stay up for about 4 1/2 hours or so and you should be able to see it. a few flurries possible tomorrow. there is the possibility, boys and girls, of a white christmas here in washington. what is a white christmas? we'll answer that question for you in just a moment. take a look at the current temperatures around the region. we are at 28 degrees in d.c. 25

in gaithersburg. 18 in manassas. # in fredericksburg. stevenessville is at 28 degrees actually look at the satellite- radar. -- 28 in fredericksburg. stevensville is at 28 degrees. a look at the satellite-radar here. the forecast looks like this. mostly sunny skies. a little pullout there so you can see a little more of the eastern united states. it is snowing right now in portions of ohio and west virginia. we are not going to worry about that. mostly sunny skies, windy and cold. we should be at 46 degrees. we won't make it. your five-day forecast, tomorrow, as i mentionedded, a little clipper system comes through. could bring us some flurries. we get into the upper 30s on wednesday, thursday and friday so some relative warmth and some late snow is possible friday night into saturday. what is unique about that? friday is christmas eve. saturday is christmas day.

it could be snowing christmas morning. >> we could have a white christmas. >> it would be very pretty. >> we haven't had one in a while. >> it depends on how you define it. and in fact that leads us to today's edition of ask the weather guys. my appreciation to tucker barnes who has filled in ablely for the last several days doing all the heavy lifting as i was out due to family emergency. tucker and a put our big heads together. to be honest, he answered this question today. he did all the research. today's question comes from marissa in bristow, virginia. she wants to know what constitutes a white christmas. is it when there is snow on the ground or when it actually snows on christmas morning. when is the last time this area had snow overnight into christmas morning. when did she send this question? >> middle of last week. maybe she should be a forecaster. >> the last time we had snow

christmas eve into christmas morning, we'll answer that in a moment. here is what constitutes a white christmas. >> is this scientifically -- >> yeah, it is. it is considered a white christmas if there is an inch of snow on the ground. >> an inch. >> so it doesn't have to be snowing. but it has to have snowed and there has to be snow on the ground, an inch or more. last year, we had a white christmas. we had the big snowstorm december 19th into the 20th. 16.4inches. much of that snow was on the ground o christmas day last year, it rain ped and start -- it rained and started melting that snow away. it was raining on christmas last year but there was snow on the ground. tucker did some research to find out how often it is that we have a white christmas. >> yeah. so historically, about 13%, so roughly one in 10 christmases

we have a white christmas. we had one last year. about 6% of our christmases does it actually snow on christmas day. so you are talking one in 20 chance that you will see snow falling on christmas day. so we tried to answer that question. the last time it snowed here on christmas day, wednesday, december 25, 2002. we had a storm that worked through the area that morning. it started as rain and changed to snow during the course of the day. about 2 inches at dulles. that answers that question. >> and as for how often does it actually snow here in washington on christmas day, it has only snowed on christmas day in washington nine times since the 1870s. so pretty rare. right now, the forecast is for snow friday night into christmas morning. so at this point, it is monday. you know things can change. at this point it can look like we will have a white christmas. >> if we can keep what we have on the ground and add a little

bit to it, we could technically have a white christmas. >> a white christmas is either an inch of snow on the ground or snowing on christmas, correct being tuck officer. >> yes. >> good thing we cleared that up. >> we got a good shot of it. >> we do have a shot at it. thank you for the question. if you have i question you would like to have answered, go to myfoxdc.com and click on the weather tab. there you go. we'll try to answer it for you as soon as we can. we got a good question for tomorrow spar and a fun one you will like. >> let's check in with julie wright. >> not so much fun on the roads right now. we do have problems to report for those trying to work their way through southeast washington the accident activity has popped up on the inbound 11th street bridge. now, for those traveling northbound on 295 leaving the d.c. line headed up towards the accident scene, only about a five-minute delay tacked onto your commute.

definitely something to watch out for. on the other side of town, southbound 270 here at 109. heavy, slow and steady, that is how you roll. the pace has ofself -- out of germantown. track volume looking good as you work your way to the southeast-southwest freeway. that's a check of your fox 5 on-time traffic. >> thank you. if you are headed out of town for the holidays, you have to shell out in extra cash to fill up the old gas tank. price are up about eight pennies in the last couple of week. that brings the national average for unleaded to $2.95 a gallon. oil is up 14% from this time last year and is expected to clean on climbing next year. christmas came early for one group of kids for even the most seasoned performers. getting an inhave a taxicab commission to perform at the academy awards is quite a thrill. imagine being a child, part of a school chorus and you find out that you're going to sing

on the oscars. actress ann hathaway is cohosting the 83rd academy awards and she surpriseed a surprise -- she surpriseed a group in new york. there she is. can you hear their screams drowned her out when he gave them the news. the ps 22 chorus is known for its pop songs. that caught the attention of the producers for the oscars. the kids will be flown to hollywood, walk the red carpet and perform on the broadcast next february. great! >> that is a great opportunity. we want to say a big thank you for everyone who is helping us out with our fox 5 christmas industry. this song, do you hear what i hear, a favorite of lynn brewer's. she posted it on our facebook fan page. thank you for the jones family in greenbelt being maryland who donated these ornaments. they are face august bit of a tough holiday. susan jones says her husband is

battling cancer. we wish you the best of luck. to all of you, we should donate the tree will be donated to a worthy charity before christmas. >> the tinsel and everything. we do appreciate everybody sending in the ornaments. we hope they get through the holidays. we'll be right back. 

time to say good morning to our facebook fan of the day. she is alexis streb. and she says her dad didn't think she had a chance of being fan of the day and she wanted to prove him wrong. and you sure did. thank you for being our facebook friend. to be tomorrow's fan of the day find us on facebook by

searching fox5. and then post a comment under alexis' photo. our goal is to have 10,000 fans by the end of the year. i think we're getting close but we would like to have you as a fan. and we're on twitter by the way. to follow us -- search wttgmorningnews. that's it for this hour. let's send things over to allison and steve. after a natural gas explosion, the only thing lefting is the chimney. what sparked this dangerous blast. and the search for a former redskins cheerleader in las vegas hasn't been seen in a week. her car was found with t